Grab a cup of coffee (or tea), sit back, and chill out for a bit with us this morning! We’re so happy you joined us for our morning coffee! We’ll meet you every weekday morning, right here on the blog, around 7am CST (5am PST, 9am EST) to share a cup of joe with you, talk about what’s on our minds, sneak in some awesome deals we spot, talk about our meal plans for the day, and anything else that comes up! Feel free to chat it up in the comment section, and tell us how you’re feeling, what’s going on with your life, current events, things you’re excited about or bummed out about, and anything else you want to chit-chat about. Not sure who we are? Head over to Meet The Ladies, to meet Jeni, and Reviews by Clo to meet Chloe (you can call her “Clo”!)
Did you miss us yesterday, or any other day this week? Catch up and keep the conversation going by stopping over HERE!
Now….refill that coffee and let’s get to chatting!
It seems like every year the holidays start earlier and earlier. Once we (Clo & Winston) got back from our trip to Mexico, Christmas trees were up, stores were playing Christmas songs and decorations and giftsets were lining the Walmart aisles. Its not even Thanksgiving yet and it feels like Christmas. I’m sure in the mainland it feels even more like Christmas as global warning is making snow fill up the streets in early November. It doesn’t snow in Hawaii so it honestly never really feels like Christmas. I love Christmas, it’s my favorite time of the year as my birthday is 3 days before Christmas.
When do you put up your Christmas decorations?
Do you find it odd how early decorations are being set up nowadays?
Every year, my (Jeni) best friend and I have a tradition during the holidays. We watch the entire Harry Potter series, one movie at a time, from around Thanksgiving through Christmas. With our busy schedules, we decided to start early this year, to be sure we get to watch each of them. Jason joined in our tradition, and his sweet little kitty, Matti, was all about it, too! She’s definitely a Gryffindor Girl! It’s so much fun to kick off our traditions early, because it really brings the season to light for us.
There’s nothing more magical than Hogwarts during Christmas, right?
6 more weeks until Christmas! The countdown begins!
Do you have any holiday traditions you love? Are you a Harry Potter fan like we are!?
If you don’t own the collection, grab it on Amazon for only $43.50!
Feel the Chill Event! Warm up with 75% off Cold Weather Gear at Groopdealz!
Baby Moccasins – Tons of Colors & Styles!—$7.99
Today only (11/18), you have to check out Amazon’s Deals of the Day!! 40% off cookware sets, Fit-Bits for only $74.99, and Dove Moisture Gift Packs (5-piece) for $10!? I’m (Jeni) going SHOPPING!!
Those little beauties in the picture are my (Jeni) amazing nieces, wearing the Little Girl Scarves I got them last year for Christmas. Shockingly, these were their favorite gifts – even though I spoiled them with toys galore! Right now, they are only $4.99 each – what a steal! I’ll be grabbing a few more this year, too. 🙂 There are also some absolutely adorable Fall Lightweight Button Scarves for women on sale for $8.99, as well!
Now through midnight CST, use the code CE155077 at checkout from Oriental Trading Company, and you’ll get FREE shipping with any order! WE LOVE THIS SITE! Score some fun gifts, great decorations for the holidays, treat bags and lots more at discounted prices, plus, free shipping knocks those out of pocket prices down even more!
Discover original artwork from around the world,
selected by Saatchi Art and guest curators.
Imagine walking into an art gallery, where any medium, from any area of the world, was available to view all in one place. It seems an impossible feat, before Saatchi Art. The online gallery features artwork of all types, with artists from around the globe, and at any price point. The site specifically features paintings, photography, drawings, sculpture, collages, and prints. Read my (Clo) full review HERE.
I (Jeni) recently was able to review some Friendly’s Ice Cream Coffee K-Cups for my Holiday Gift Guide. Oh my goooooosh! These are so YUMMY! With flavors like Mint Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Marshmallow Swirl, Butterscotch Swirl and Vienna Mocha Chunk – how can you go wrong!? The Vienna Mocha Chunk is in my coffee cup right now, and my tastebuds are in Heaven! Grab some from Amazon for only 55¢ per cup – which is SOOOO worth it! You can see my full review HERE, and watch for a giveaway, starting tomorrow, 11/19 to win some of your own!
Check out those hats! While on a date the other night, Jason and I stumbled into a super fancy, high-end leather store in downtown Fort Worth. Jason’s a big steam punk fan, so when he saw this top hat, he had to try it on. I grabbed this fluffy, fur hat and threw it on. It wasn’t until we were taking them off that we realized how expensive they were. $400 for the hat Jason’s wearing, and $250 for the fuzz on my head. WHAT!? People actually spend that money!? That’s a down payment on a CAR. That’s 2 months worth of groceries! That’s ridiculous, is what it is! Naturally, we put them back on and snapped a picture. Because, how often do you have this much money sitting on your head!? It’s now one of my favorite memories 🙂
ohhhh yah! Homemade Chex Mix has been a holiday favorite in my family for – well, as long as I can remember. It’s 100x better than the bagged Chex Mix you buy in the stores, and can include whatever you want in it. This Chex Mix is baked in the oven, and will have your house smelling ridiculously amazing! Check out my family’s recipe HERE!
What’s on your mind today? Leave us a comment, and let’s keep the discussion going!
26 Comments
Love the hat its different and looks warm I could wear on a cold day or when I am outside putting up christmas decorateion thanks for sharing.
Most definitely! But $250 for that hat…no thanks! lol
I am absolutely clueless about Harry Potter. I know about the book and movies, but I never got to read nor watch any of them. I guess I could do something this year and find time to appreciate Harry Potter.
It’s so much fun!!! You should totally give it a chance!
It’s nice to see Christmas decorations up because it helps me feel more excited about Christmas, lol. I love the tradition! I watch Harry Potter any time I feel like it. I love the Gryffindor scarf too!
10 points to Gryffindor for Elizabeth’s loyalty!!!! 🙂
Hi everyone,
I’m late visiting Morning Coffee today, so it will have to be a fast dose of evening coffee. On my mind today…I have a lot of friends who are bloggers. I often help many of them with finding content for their blogs, or creating content for their blogs. This particular friend asked me to make a gift buying guide for Amazon gifts for her blog. I spent 5 hours working on the project, and then she tells me after I finished it, that she is going in a different direction, meaning my time and efforts were wasted. I told her I couldn’t help her with her blog anymore, and she said fine you don’t want to be friends either, she seriously ended a 22 year old friendship over a BLOG, a BLOG! It left a bad taste in my mouth about bloggers and blogging in general. But then, my awesome BFF reminded me that not all bloggers and blogs are created equal, which I know from blogs like The Binder Ladies, so now I’m back to my normal self. Some bloggers rock and some bloggers should go hide under a rock in my opinion. Of course the Binder Ladies are awesome and one of only two blogs I follow on a regular basis, because they are down to earth and rock the great deals!
Our Christmas decorations start going up the day after Thanksgiving, and I try to have them all up by the beginning of December. This year, I am still battling with Sciatica and back pain, so I’m not sure when the decorations will be up. We use an awesome metal tree like stand up thingy that resembles a tree but is completely made out of medal, it’s more like one big giant ornament hanger actually. Anyways, I look forward to putting that up each year because it looks so awesome when it’s done. I do find it odd how early stores set up for holidays. Two weeks before Halloween, our Walmart was putting out Christmas stuff, and now they already have Valentine’s Day candy out. I cannot even begin to think about a holiday that is next year until after Christmas, but I guess they make money off of it, because the items hit the store shelves earlier and earlier each year.
I have so many favorite holiday traditions, I don’t know how I could decide which is my favorite. I think it’s a tie between going to the Hotel Del Coronado to spend the afternoon and watching the ice skaters skate on the rink that is literally right on the beach with an ocean view as well as Sea World’s Christmas Spectacular which we usually attend after Christmas on New Year’s Eve. I love winter, it’s my favorite time of year, so there are all sorts of things we do during the winter months that we don’t normally get to do throughout the rest of the year.
I’m feeling so under the weather today with the Sciatica that I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner. So, I made Pizza Soup. I am not a big soup eater, but I love Pizza Soup!
Pizza Soup Recipe:
2 cans Hunts diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce cans)
2 cans Campbells (regular sized cans, don’t mix it with milk or water)
2 1/2 cups of water
1 pack of Hormel Pepperoni Minis
1 red pepper chopped up into tiny pieces
1 green pepper chopped up into tiny pieces
1 cup of Green Giant sliced jarred mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic, completely minced
1/2 teaspoon of sage
1/2 teaspoon of basil
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
Salt
Pepper
1 loaf of Pepperidge Farm garlic bread
Shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
Put tomatoes, soup, and water in a large pot, bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, place cover on the pot, and allow to heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Mix in other ingredients, using a whisk. Mash all of the ingredients down together using a wooden spoon or a masher tool. Pour into bowls, top with a slice of garlic bread, you can also sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the soup before adding the garlic bread, it melts right in, so tasty. This recipe makes a little over 2 quarts of soup, and tastes even better reheated.
Have a great night everyone, I’m off to bed!
Good evening Sarah!
We’re so happy you joined us, even if it’s this evening! I’m so sorry about your friend – you are a wonderful asset to Bloggers and any Blogger would be so grateful for the help! I know I am when you help me and send me deals to post!! You are VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!
I can’t wait to put up our decorations, either! I need to get new lights, though, because I left all mine in Washington when I moved. You’ll have to send us some pictures of your decorations! We would love to see them!
Hotel Del Coronado sounds AMAZING!!! I love the Winter, too – I’m outside MUCH MORE in the Winter months!!! I loved reading about your traditions!
That soup looks FABULOUS!!!! We’ll share that tomorrow with the Morning Coffee Crew, in case they missed it! THANK YOU!
I’m a classic late decorator/ late “un-decorator.” I really need to get a head-start this year. I love your Harry Potter tradition. A lot of people do that actually!
HAHA!!! So you get your stuff up Christmas Eve, and take it down around Valentine’s Day, huh? Just kidding!!! That’s funny, though! I didn’t know a lot of people did that – I’m excited about that now!
There is seriously nothing better than homemade chex mix.
AGREED!!! I could eat a pound of it a day!
Yes, I decorate way too early every year! And yes, I do love Harry Potter as much as you do!
WOOHOO!!!!!! HARRY POTTER!
Love the decorate o Santa Clause, it makes me feel Christmas is coming.
Me, too! I LOVE IT!
We start decorating on the First Sunday of Advent, which usually coincides with my mom’s birthday. It is a lot of fun doing it because we know mom always has something yummy to eat after we have set up the tree and other decorations.
Oh, how fun!!! What a fun holiday tradition!
The little scarves was really cute and i love the colors. It was a nice gift for my niece
Aren’t they adorable!?!
Lol, the video is hilarious! I love Chez Mix and I can’t wait to try your recipe.
I can’t wait for you to try my recipe, too!!!!! Let me know what you think!
I put my decorations up the day after Thanksgiving. Did you know there is a TV show called Light Fight where the hosts go find the best light displays? It’s really fun to watch!
OMG that show sounds like so much fun!!!! I will have to check it out! Thanks!
Love the Harry Potter series holiday tradition!
I saw that coffee around, the Friendly’s. But I haven’t seen it in stores. I’d love to try it.